Winter Sun Playlists

By Out.com Editors Jan. 28, 2013, 7 p.m.

33 Tracks To Get You In The Miami MoodNo disrespect to Gloria Estefan's backup band, but Miami is a sound machine unto itself. Scores of artists, some predictable, some surprising, have lived, loved, worked and broken down in Miami. Enrique Iglesias was brought up in Magic City to avoid Basque militants threatening his family, hail from Miami. Miami Bass acts like Maggotron and Quad City DJs, the Freestyle beats of natives Debbie Deb and Expose and its aural descendants, the hip-hop of Flo Rida and Trina, are all synonymous with the city's party scene.

Dig a little into the sand and you'll discover unforeseen musical gems from Marilyn Manson, who formed his eponymous band in Florida, and Cat Power, who lived in and recorded part of Sun, her appropriately named album, there.

Here, we've compiled a booty-dropping, hip-hopping, glam-rocking Spotify playlist to get you in the Miami mood.

If you don't have Spotify, visit their website and download it. It's more incredible than the astounding range of Miami-born bands.

31 Tracks From Sin City Legendsince its inception, Sin City has put the world's biggest stars center stage. Liberace made a fortune at the MGM, becoming one of the first live acts to set up shop in the arid air. Rat Packers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr sold out shows for years before passing the torch to entertainers of varied sounds and skills, including Barry Manilow and Wayne Newton. And divas like Cher, Bette Midler, and Tina Turner have played into the glittering night. (Tina must know the city like the back of her hand. Before leaving Ike to become an independent woman, the couple spent months hopping between the city's larger venues, often to fellow performers with residencies there, Elvis among them.)

Britney Spears, Cee-Lo, and Boyz II Men will soon join them, offering spectacular shows of their own, and so too will rockers Motley Crue and Guns N' Roses; Garth Brooks had a long-running show, and BB King shared his one-of-a-kind talents with hundreds of thousands of lucky listeners. Cirque de Soleil, meanwhile, will soon unveil a spectacular Michael Jackson tribute, "Immortal." Together, these and other artists have helped Vegas keep its well-earned title of entertainment capital of the world.

There's no one sound in this collection; it's a wide variety of sounds that may not have originated in Vegas, but many of them (we're looking at you, Clint Holmes) have become so closely associated with the city that you'd think they had.

When possible, we've included live versions of tracks, to give you a better sense of what it might be like to hear these performers do their thing in person. But there were some intriguing collaborations that we couldn't resist featuring, such as Vegas institution Tom Jones and Swedish band The Cardigan's cover of The Talking Heads' "Bringing Down The House" and Santana and Tina Turner's "The Game of Love."

All of these starts and more make appearances in our Vegas playlist, "Paradise City: A Las Vegas Experience."

Vegas Playlist II: Born and BredOfficially incorporated in 1905, Las Vegas is the baby of the States' well-known cities. And its reputation and population both grew faster than any of its contemporaries, mostly thanks to entertainment and gaming industries. Over a quarter of the population, 29.3%, works in that sector.

The city's youth and existence as a source of escape, not a place to settle, reduces the number of people actually from Sin City. It's still only home to about 600,000 people. About 2 million if you count the greater metropolitan area, which still leaves it in the low 30s for population density.

Unlike Miami, a crossroads that has brought us dozens of stars, Las Vegas has produced very little organic sound. That is, sound not produced for the lounges and casinos.

But the last fifteen years have seen the rise of an actual generation of Vegas-born musicians. Jenny Lewis, the songstress formerly of Rilo Kiley, was born in the glow of the Strip, so were Brandon Flowers and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. from the Killers. David Yow from the noise rock band calls Vegas home, and does hip-hop whiz kid Dizzy Wright. Panic! at the Disco and Big B are represented on this list, as well.

Despite the dissimilarities in style, these 18 tracks represent Vegas' native sound. There's an epic quality to many of them, as if the singers or bands are on an odyssey in the desert, headed somewhere unknown, running toward something — or, in some cases, from.